A question was recently posed on that blog entry by Christina, of whether I would say that only the new version was needed. This prompted me to do a comparison of patterns, and to note which ones were in each book, and any changes.

Looking through and comparing these books has piqued my interest in knitting up one of the patterns, and I must say that it will probably be from the newer book, as the shaping is more contemporary there, and more to my liking. There are a couple of sweaters that appear in both books that really appeal to me also. I enjoy seeing the ones that were reknit being done in a new colorway. My comparison of the 2 books follows, a simple chart:

So my answer to Christina who posed the question, would be that I am happy that I own both books. If your desire is to have a complete knitting library, and you love color work and more complicated patterns, then Yes to owning both books. And starting at $20 for the older version on Amazon, I do think that it is worth the investment.

As a side note, thanks in large part to Ravelry, many knitting books that are out of print have become very pricey, although that changes as books are reissued. I have a wonderful library that I have amassed over the years, and keep telling my family that if something happens to me, my knitting books are worth more than my Architecture books! And that statement says a lot, as that is also a wonderful collection.

Tudor Roses, I have both. The first by Alice Starmore (1998) has become an icon in the knitting book world, and commanding many times over the original $24 price tag. I have yet to knit anything from this, although it is definitely on my upcoming list to knit a Starmore sweater. All of the sweaters were inspired by members of the Tudor Dynasty, each comes with a brief bio of the person, and the necessary charts, etc for those who wish to actually knit them up rather than just drooling through the pages.

A couple of selections from the original book:

So when a new version of this book was issued (2013), I was not sure that it was necessary. How wrong could I be. This was an early Christmas present to myself, and well worth the current price of about $27 (list is $40). As described in the review: Part fashion, part photography, part English history, and all knitting. There are a few new patterns, and many reknit in a different color way, so they look totally different. Most important is the quality of this book, it is a lovely cloth covered hardcover, and has the look and feel of a beautiful coffee table book.

All of the photography is totally new, not set in scenes, but rather studio shots. Each sweater is on a different model, ones that Starmore chose to reflect her vision of the woman for whom the sweater is thus named. There are a few new patterns not found in the original book, at the expense of the Tudor men. Katherine was a color change, whereas Anne got a whole new look.

Here are some side by side comparisons of an original pattern to the new. The subtle color differences of the blue version here are more appealing to me.

The accessories in this book are really interesting, made specifically for the book.

No men in the new version, for that you need to look for the original.

A new version of Aran Knitting was also published recently, but I think that it is a Dover edition. Still, are there patterns there that I would need? How many duplicate book copies are truly necessary?!!!

Sorry that you don’t like the new one. Many of the patterns were repeated. Having both, if I had to choose one, it would be the new version. It is so beautiful, and the colors are more contemporary. Maybe you can watch for the old one to surface at a good price.

Finally, here are my purchases from our day last Friday at the Michigan Fiber Festival. But I must interject that the name is confusing to those non knitters and spinners. My friends had more than one person ask them if it was about eating fiber, and why would there be a festival for that?!!

Taking the Spinning the colors of Shetland class, while it was not too interesting, inspired me to spin up the many colors and knit the hat by Kate Davies, Sheep Heid.

With that in mind, I bought these 3 colors of Shetland wool, after I got home and read the pattern, I realize that it wants 9 of the colors, so I will have to do some more shopping at Wisconsin Sheep and Wool. I have these 3 so far, and might use one of my other breeds of white as one of the colors. This will be my first attempt at spinning for a specific project. Fair isle apparently looks better with a 3-ply vs. a 2-ply (has to do with a round yarn versus the flatter 2-ply), but I will have to see how finely I can spin this up.

Not just natural colors were on my mind. Mimi and I both were attracted to having this Jamieson’s color chart, so we are now both proud owners of this wonderful inspiration. One day, when I have knit up some more of my stash, I will make a trip and purchase a multitude of colors for an Alice Starmore sweater.

The last item that I have to show you was the one thing that I wanted to take away from this festival, The Shepard’s Rug book.

In trolling the market, I was on the lookout for this book, but not successful. Then, we went out to the barn to see some of the animals, and in the sheep area, there was Letty Klein with her rugs, and braiding away!!! I was thrilled, and she sold me the book, the coated linen thread, and then gave me a mini lesson on how to braid for these rugs. I have been pouring over the book since.

All-in-all, a great time, and I have no guilt about stash enhancement.

I received these 3 books for Christmas from my husband, and have not yet commented on them.

The first, The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook, has been one that I have been drooling over since first seeing it at a Wool Festival last summer. I have 2 other books that focus on sheep and wool types, but this is the mother of all fiber related source books. It not only has Sheep, but Goats, Camels, Musk Ox, Rabbits, Horses and Dogs and Cats too. If this book had been out first, it would definitely be the only fiber source book that I would own. I am off to read about Yak soon, as it is in a blended fiber that I am interested in ordering soon. No superfluous patterns or fill-ins here, just 400+ pages of fiber info. This book will be close at hand when spinning.

The other books that my husband gave me are both reference books for color knitting. Alice Starmore’s Charts for Color Knitting.

Both of these books contain hundreds of charts for fair isle motifs. Again, no patterns, just reference. The Muckelstone book has the motifs knitted up in swatches on each page and computer generated colorings of the charts. The patterns tend to be smaller and repeatable. The Starmore book is basically charted designs in B&W, has a couple of knitted inspirations, and general instructions on how to apply the charts to your own sweater. This book also has some larger one-off designs that would be great for not only sweaters, but mittens and smaller objects. Both books would be good as design elements to put tracing paper on top of and design away with PrismaColors at hand (my absolute favorite colored pencils of all time). This is my dream set…